Pentagon must provide air defense for Kurds

As tensions rise across the Middle East, one of America’s most stable and reliable regional allies, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, is in danger. Hostile nation states and extremist militias threaten our democratic way of life and the safety of U.S. troops and diplomats on our soil. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters alone are ill-equipped to handle the onslaught and large-scale attacks the region faces on a daily basis. That’s why the defense budget for fiscal year 2024, also popularly known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), requires the Department of Defense to submit a plan for an attack on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Providing air defense for the Kurdistan RegionThese, along with other provisions, are designed to ensure that we can defend ourselves and protect our troops and diplomats.

By law, the plan is Submit by February 1, 2024The bill is supposed to be fully implemented by July 1, 2024, including the full deployment of air defense systems and training against threats such as missiles, rockets, and unmanned systems. However, nearly six months after the bill was passed, no plans have been finalized, leaving Kurdish and U.S. military personnel facing growing threats with little to defend themselves. It is critical that the Department of Defense finalize and implement the plan immediately.

The Kurds are used to working with the United States to defend freedom in the Middle East. When ISIS first spread its reign of terror in the Fertile Crescent, Kurdish Peshmerga forces fought alongside U.S. troops to defeat ISIS. Since then, we have worked closely with U.S. forces to fight terrorist insurgencies, gather intelligence, and deter enemy aggression. It has long been our shared desire that one day the Peshmerga forces would be able to stand on their own and successfully defend themselves against new threats. But to do so, they need supplies, which we simply do not have. And since October 7, the reality on the ground has been rapidly changing in a more alarming direction that we cannot counter alone.

This year alone, Kurdish civilians have been senselessly killed. Neighboring countries Non-state actor missiles, Energy Infrastructure And more US military base attacked“And extremist groups like ISIS continue to sow terror in our communities. ISIS is working desperately to regroup in Iraq and Syria. Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, said: Recently, in a House committee ISIS-K launched a horrific attack on Moscow earlier this year“They possess the ability and will to attack U.S. and Western interests with little or no warning within just six months.” Kurdish forces are ready and willing to take a leading role in regional defense, but they cannot do so without the promised air defenses.

As the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representative in Washington, I thank the American people, Congress, and Administration for continuing to take further steps to support the Kurdish people as they strive for peace in their homeland. The requirements outlined in last year’s NDAA are critical to the future of the Kurdish Region, and we urgently need these requirements to be met as quickly as possible.

We cannot waste time. The Department of Defense must immediately deploy a comprehensive, integrated air defense system that protects the entire Kurdistan Region. The effect of such a deployment would be threefold: it would serve as a force protector for U.S. forces and our partners, it would protect innocent civilians from harm, and it would serve as a powerful deterrent against continued escalation.

As we have seen time and again around the world, when the United States provides its allies with strong defensive capabilities, they can protect themselves from hostile forces without having to send U.S. troops into harm’s way. The same was true in Iraq. If the United States provided the Kurdish region with the resources to defend itself, it could prevent a broader conflict in the Middle East and save countless lives.

It is in the best interests of both the United States and the Kurdistan Region to install air defense systems in the Kurdistan Region, a beacon of stability and democracy in a turbulent region.

Trifa AzizU.S. Representative to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).